EDITORIAL - Children’s safety

A Cebu City lawmaker is seeking a clearer implementation of the law that prohibits children from riding motorcycles in the city. Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera said no one should drive a motorcycle with a child during heavy traffic if a child cannot reach the standard foot peg.

Children below seven years old, according to her, should not be allowed to ride motorcycles if they cannot enwrap the waist of the driver, and that they must also wear the standard helmet. The councilor, in her resolution, also said the city needs to make the safety of children with no means of transportation a priority.

There is a city ordinance that prohibits children seven years old and below from riding two-wheeled vehicles such as motorcycles.

However, Pesquera said City Ordinance No. 2033 should clearly “define the prohibitions, exception and qualifying circumstances for it to be comprehensive and encompassing.”

“The carriage of a child or children below seven (7) years of age on board any and all forms of two-wheeled vehicles poses a clear and imminent danger to the life and safety of the child/children,” said the opposition lawmaker, who was reported to be interested in running for Congress in May.

Of course, Pesquera’s idea is good as it gives more measures that raise the safety of children riding motorcycles. For the councilor, the existing local law is not giving enough protection to children considering that many families in the city own at least one motorcycle.

There is really a need for the city government to outline additional safety measures for children riding motorcycles. The existing law lacks some prohibitions and exemptions, and should be revised to make it attuned to the present realities.

Motorcycles are involved in most road accidents not only in the city but in the entire county as well. And given the rising volume of motorcycles plying the streets, laws on their operations also need to be updated.